Donald Cameron

Royal Naval Reserve officer, commander of the midget submarine X6 and holder of the Victoria Cross for the attack on the battleship Tirpitz. Born on 18 March 1916 in Carluke, Lanarkshire, Scotland. On 22 September 1943, during Operation Source, six X-craft midget submarines were towed to Kåfjord in Norway where Tirpitz lay — a ship whose mere existence tied down Allied forces in the North Atlantic and threatened the Arctic convoys. Cameron's X6 passed the anti-submarine defences and, with her periscope and compass failing, worked in under the battleship's hull and released two two-ton amatol charges. Unable to withdraw, the crew scuttled the craft and were taken prisoner aboard Tirpitz itself. The explosions caused heavy damage: the battleship was out of action for months and never again posed the threat to the convoys that she had. The Victoria Cross was awarded jointly with Lieutenant Godfrey Place, commanding X7, and gazetted on 22 February 1944. He spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. After release he continued in submarines, reaching the rank of Commander. He died on 10 April 1961.